Floor effect units are known and are vastly utilized form generating musical effects for example for a one man band.
GB 2033129 discloses a musical scale sounds are generated when any of foot-switches in a ring-shaped flexible sheet are depressed. In the flexible sheet, a perforated cushion member of insulating material is inserted between plural pairs of thin electrodes to form the foot-switches. An external circuit including an oscillator, an amplifier and a speaker is connected to the flexible sheet by a cable to generate the musical sound in response to the contact of any of the pairs of the electrodes.
GB2460496 discloses a music device, for example a music teaching aid, comprises a user interface device such as a floor mat which includes a plurality of sound creation regions each associated with at least one sound. Each sound creation region includes a sensor arrangement for sensing when said region is contacted by a user, preferably comprising: two conductive components, separated by an insulator having apertures to allow electrical connection of the conductive components upon application of pressure. A processing arrangement is interactively associated with the user interface device, and is capable of being associated with a speaker arrangement to cause the speaker arrangement to emit a sound associated with the sound creation region contacted by the user. The processing arrangement may be configured to provide instructions to the user via a display arrangement such as a television screen or computer monitor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,355 discloses a foot switch includes a base member having an upwardly facing surface, a force sensing resistor disposed on the surface and coupled electrically to a sensing circuit, and an ‘Udi Gabrieli’H actuating layer disposed on the force sensing resistor and the base member surface. The actuating layer has an elevated portion which is substantially centered over the force sensing resistor, the elevated portion having a convex upper surface which is a portion of a spherical surface. The sensing circuit includes a constant current source connected in series with the force sensing resistor between ground and a predetermined voltage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,333 discloses an apparatus for generating control signals for manipulating viewpoints and other objects of a computer generated virtual three dimensional space according to forces exerted by the feet of the user. The apparatus includes shoes, or pads, used beneath the user's feet containing sensors and circuitry for detecting force balances within and between the feet. Force balance signals are input to the computer system and used for generating program control data thereto. The control data are used as thrust and torque vectors for manipulating the location of the viewpoint, and orientation of the view within the virtual space.